


Just keep swimming, except when you can't

by hogwuna



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Billy Hargrove is a Mess, Friends to Lovers, Gay Billy Hargrove, M/M, MerMay, Neil Hargrove is His Own Warning, Protective Billy Hargrove, Protective Steve Harrington, Slow Burn, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart, Steve Harrington is a badass, They both need a Hug, but they are the main focus obviously, it won't be just them, just assume it will happen hahah, mermaid au, so I won't tag any other relationships or friendships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:40:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24022255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hogwuna/pseuds/hogwuna
Summary: Billy feels all alone with his father being the way he is. But something unexpected helps cheer him up, makes his summer way better. Sadly for him, Max tattles on him, and he is whisked as far away from the ocean as possible. However, the ocean and it's creatures have a grip on Billy's heart, and they are determined to bring him back.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I really suck at summaries but it's mermay and I really really wanted to write a mermay harringrove.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	1. The ocean is a safe place

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I was convinced May wasn't for a while now, so this really snuck up on me. I know I should really be adding another chapter to my other fic, but I've been busy with work and then when I realized it was May I had to do this hahaha I'll get back to the other one soon tho! Hope you all enjoy this!  
> \--------  
> warning spoiler notes in the end notes if you wanna check it out just in case!

Crying alone on the beach in the middle of the night isn’t something that Billy thought he would be doing right now. If he were a normal kid, he’d be home, in his room, reading a book or playing with his toys. But he isn’t normal. That’s what his dad says. Sometimes he says it with harsh words, sometimes with even harsher fists. Tonight, it was the latter. It’s been happening more and more ever since his mother left. And that’s a can of worms Billy doesn’t want to open tonight but it’s inescapable. 

It’s the beginning of summer, school let up not even two days ago. Billy should have seen it coming, should have known he’d start getting punished more severely once there were no teachers to notice the strange bruises and hand shaped marks littering his body. 

He can barely open his left eye. The ribs on his right-side ache whenever he breathes in. There’s a gash on his forehead. Billy is supposed to be in his room right now, sleeping. But he spent two hours under the covers crying, his entire body racked with shivers, before he decided that he couldn’t stay in there for more than a second. 

The waves are lapping at his feet and he feels like they are trying to pull him in. It’s tempting. To just walk in. The ocean could always calm him. His mom used to tell him that she’d bring him down to the beach whenever he had trouble sleeping as a baby. She’d lower him into the water and he’d just pass out ten seconds flat, lulled by the peacefulness of the sea. 

It’s been six months since his mom left. Six painfully long months since she left Billy alone with Neil. He’s really been trying to be on his best behavior. Did everything right, tried not to make any mistakes. Tried to stay quiet enough, do all his chores, his homework, make meals for the both of them. If Neil is in a mood, none of that helps. It doesn’t matter how good Billy has been. When something triggers his dad, it’s danger for Billy. 

It wasn’t even his fault this time. It was stupid Maxine. The kid of his father’s new wife. It’s barely been six months. Three since the small wedding. Despite not liking Susan, he had hoped that maybe he and Maxine could become friends. Maybe even become a big brother to her. That’s not gonna happen now. He’s too angry at her. The kid had left some of her toys out in the living room and Neil accidentally stepped on one, broke it. Maxine had still been throwing a tantrum, tears rolling down her face when Neil grabbed Billy by the arm. He shoved him into the bathroom and proceeded to teach Billy a lesson for not cleaning up after his supposed baby sister.

Billy sniffles, wipes his nose on his elbow. His mom would yell at him for being gross but she isn’t here so who cares. He certainly doesn’t. He’s still shaking like a leaf, wants to cool off. He ponders going for a swim. Both of his parents always warned him about going out too far in the water during the night. He doesn’t have do go far, just far enough to hide from the rest of the world. 

Billy gets up and stumbles, sitting back heavy onto the sand again. It's painful, but he pushes himself up again, this time successfully. He didn’t have the forethought to get changed into his swim trunks. He’ll have to hide the wet clothes from his dad until he has the chance to wash them. 

Cradling his aching ribs, Billy slowly trudges into the shallows. The moment the water touches his toes, his shoulders sag in relief. After a brief second, he continues walking further and further in, starts swimming, goes so far that when he finally stops, he can’t touch the bottom anymore. Looking back, he can tell he is pretty far out, more than would be recommended, but he really doesn’t care.

Relaxing his entire body, he lets himself float. The sky above him is beautiful, stars shining so bright he gets mesmerized. The tinkling in his ears soothes him. Time passes without Billy noticing. It’s a while before he comes back into himself, realizes that he should head back before his dad wakes up.

He decides to dive under one time and then head back to the beach. It’s even calmer under water, the silence embracing him, protecting him from the rest of reality. He swims down until his lungs starts the burn. Then he has to go back up. He breaks the surface but something is wrong. The shore doesn’t seem closer at all. If anything, he seems to be now further out than when he was before.

Panic sweeps through him, as he desperately tries to swim back. It’s not working, the water pulling him away. There’s a lump stuck in his throat and he cannot call for help even though he wants too. He’s so tired and his body is screaming in pain. The sea is becoming restless too, waves coming in bigger and faster.

One such wave crashes hard over him and pulls Billy under. He chokes on the water, having not seen it coming over his panic. It takes an enormous amount of effort, but Billy somehow manages to break surface again. 

Just as he does however, another wave comes crashing in. He didn’t even have time to gasp in enough air. He is exhausted and his limbs are going weak. There’s no more energy left to swim back up. His lungs are burning again, but while he embraced that feeling earlier, now he wants to run away from it. He can’t however.

Slowly, he drifts further down, cold and dread settling into his very bones. “I’m scared mom.” He thinks. “I don’t want to die.” It’s so dark under water, but there is something glittering further away. He thinks it’s getting closer but he cannot tell. He’s too tired and just wants to sleep. The last thing he sees is that shimmer as his eyelids drift closed.


	2. The ocean has its secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like I should point out that mermaids for me aren't as gentle like Ariel. They are different creatures from humans, predators in the water, like sharks. Ofc this is harringrove, so obviously, mermaids can have feelings and all that, I just thought it best to give you guys a heads up cuz it will pop up. Hope you guys enjoy this one! If there is anything you think I should tag do let me know! <3

Steve hates humans. Can’t really forgive them. They killed his entire pod. It may not have been on purpose, but leaving those mines in the water still counted as killing. The ignorant creatures just did not care about anyone but themselves. They will negligently destroy nature and every other species, and they won’t even flinch. 

It’s been a while since then. Steve has been surviving all on his own. He’s had to learn how to gather food on his own, how to protect himself from the creatures that are bigger, tougher, meaner than he is. He’s had to stick close to the beaches, in shallow water, closer to the damned humans in order to survive. He absolutely hates it. 

It’s dark out, but that doesn’t really affect Steve. He can see as clearly as if it were day. He’s starving, hasn’t really had anything to eat in a couple of days. He can survive for far longer if he really needs to, but he hopes it won't come to that. There are no humans in the water so he hopes he can find some unassuming fish. He doesn’t dare go any further out right now. There are other creatures hunting for food. And he really doesn’t want to become a meal. He wouldn’t even make a good meal, honestly, there’s barely any meat on his bones.

His hopes of eating tonight are slashed quickly, though. There’s a storm incoming, the sea changing with it, quickly becoming more dangerous. Steve is going to have go back to his hiding place soon. It’s a cave just off to the side of the beach and it's practically impossible for humans to reach it, unless they want to get impaled on rocks and then drown. He’s been basically living there for several months now. So far, nothing was able to reach him there. 

Steve sighs once, realizes that there is no way he is going to eat tonight, when he notices it. A change in the water, in the shallows. He turns to look, and sees a pair of feet going deeper and deeper. A human. A scowl instantly overtakes his face. He swims up to the surface in one powerful swing of his tail, looks around. It’s just one boy that’s coming in, no one else on the beach to keep him company. Steve’s stomach growls as an idea comes to him. So far, he’s avoided eating humans, too disgusted by the mere thought. He hates them. But. But. He’s starving. And this boy that is now floating in the water, so vulnerable, is easy pickings. Steve could drag him down no problem, pull him to the bottom of the ocean, wait until life is dragged out of him, and then feast. 

He could do it. He’s a predator and this kid is prey. He could do it. The kid is just floating there. It would be so so easy. If only Steve could get himself to move. But. There’s blood in the water. It’s coming from the boy and Steve hasn’t even attacked him yet so it’s not him. And Steve’s dad always told him that he was too soft, that he was too kind, too weak, too stupid, that he wasn’t going to be able to take care of himself. Joke’s on him though, Steve’s the one who’s still alive. 

But his dad was right. About most things. But especially about the fact that he is too soft. Being unable to kill is what keeps him hungry most days. Steve doesn’t know how long he spends staring, but then the boy moves, starts swimming back and Steve thinks, tries to convince himself, that it’s too late, it’d be a waste, there isn’t even that much meat on his bones either, he’s just a kid too. A human kid, but a kid nonetheless, like Steve.

So he gets ready to go back to his cave, watches as the kid dives under water, tempting him. Watches as all hell breaks loose. The kid somehow gets stuck in a rip current, it’s pushing him back, away from the land and towards Steve. He curses at the other’s stupidity, watches the increasing panic of the boy. Everything he does makes it worse. And then a wave crashes, pushes the boy under water. Something is wrong. The boy is moving sluggishly. He manages to get out just for another wave to push him back in. And then the boy stops. It’s like all fight suddenly leaves him.

Steve is still frozen, staring, thoughts racing a mile a minute. Here this boy is, a perfect meal, and Steve doesn’t even have to kill him. But. He watches the boy drift further down, pulled by the currents. Sometimes, when he allows himself, Steve wishes that there had been someone out there who could have been kind enough to help him. That someone had found him in the remnants of butchered bodies, just a kid, screaming in anguish. He wishes that there had been someone. This kid was all alone at the beach, and, for all Steve hates humans, he has spent enough time around them to know their patterns. To know the young are never at the beach alone. Not to mention the blood. 

Steve hates humans for what they did to his parents. But it wasn’t this kid. He’s gotta be as alone as Steve is to be here this night. Decision made, Steve starts swimming towards the boy, frantic, worries that he might be too late. The moment he reaches him, he pulls the boy up and out of the water. The boy looks too pale in the moonlight, and Steve curses again. There is a heartbeat barely fluttering under his fingertips, so he is still alive. 

Steve looks around, thinks whether he should just dump the kid on the beach in the hopes that a human will find him, but there is no one. The kid would certainly be dead before that. And the storm is still coming, closer and closer. There’s only one place that would be safe, for the both of them.

He swims towards his cave, as fast as possible, but he is hungry and tired. He doesn’t remember the last time he slept for more than two hours at a time. Nightmares of his family plague his every sleeping moment. Every waking moment too.

It takes him longer than he would like to reach the cave. It’s not far from where they were, but with additional weight, it’s almost an impossible task. There is only one way to get into the cave however and that is under water. It’s only a couple of seconds, but Steve doesn’t know if this kid even has one more second left in him. Even if he doesn’t do this, the kid is certainly dead, however, so Steve might as well try. 

He dives, pushes himself harder than ever, pops up in the cave mere seconds later. It’s even more difficult to pull the boy up onto the mostly dry floor of the cave. His tail is perfect for underwater maneuvering but moving on land is freaking hard. 

As soon as the boy is lying safely on the ground, Steve presses his ear to his chest, listens. His heartbeat sounds even weaker. Steve doesn’t know what to do so he presses himself close, tries to pull himself up further out of the water, but his hand slips and he crashes hard on top of the boy. Somehow this helps, because the boy starts coughing up water. It sounds painful and Steve winces in sympathy. 

The boy’s eyes flutter open, ocean blue eyes staring at Steve, unseeing, before they close again. Steve just sits there, stunned. Mesmerized. He’s never seen eyes like that, not up close. Pretty. He shakes himself out of his stupor the next second, still overcome with worry, and presses his ear to the boy’s chest again. His heart seems to be beating better now, stronger, and Steve breathes a sigh of relief. 

He knows that humans get cold easily, has observed them bundling up in these weird fabrics when they run out of the water. This boy has to be cold too. So Steve drapes himself over the boy again, keeps only a part of his tail in the water. Tries to offer any warmth he can. The rhythmic in and out of the boy’s chest and the soft beat in his ears make him sleepy. He could also sleep for a bit. The other boy doesn’t seem likely to wake up any time soon, and Steve never sleeps for too long anyway, he’ll be up soon enough. He’ll just sleep for a bit. With that thought, Steve grips the other boy tighter and passes out.

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for near death by drowning!


End file.
